Visuals on the Billboards of Automobile Workshops: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Aim of the Study: If we accept the term media, the plural of medium, as broadly meant to be all the channels of communication, and any form of information that can influence people, billboard advertising is a significant medium. Three major roles of media include to educate, inform and entertain; and when it comes to billboard advertisements they serve at least the first two purposes that is to educate and inform. Billboards as a means of advertising exploit linguistic and visual resources for meaning making. The current paper examines the visual literacy practices as exhibited on the billboards of auto-mechanic workshops in Pakistan from the thematic perspective.

Methodology: The research is based on the data collected from three localities of Rawalpindi and the surrounding areas within 100 kilometers radius including: 1) Rawalpindi City 2) Murree City, Company Bagh, Murree Expressway 3) and Dinna, and Gujjar Khan. These workshops are representatives of two social classes, the middle-middle class and the lower-middle class. Visuals on the billboards of these workshops are captured and examined to find out what are the thematic threads running across this visual data. While mainly Wang’s (2014) framework is adapted, Visual Grammar by Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996, 2001, 2006) and Critical Discourse Analysis by Fairclough (1989, 1995) are the conceptual feeding-streams for the analysis in the current research.

Findings: Discursive narrative analysis of the visuals is focused upon for visual interpretation which enables the researcher to identify some broad themes running across the visuals of billboards at micro and macro levels such as claiming authenticity, professional specialization, metaphor of wealth, and modality as a visual literacy practice.

Conclusion: The research provides insights into the literacy practices observed on the billboards of automobile workshops through the use of visuals; and sheds light on the social aspects of these practices.